Running Blind
by AmitiRequiem
Summary: [postFFIV] A simple quest to help a city in need springs into a journey that leaves them running blind, right into a chaotic plot that involves a lot more than Earth.
1. Prelude: Distress Call

**Prelude- Distress Call **

Golbez ran on his way to find the Lunar Whale II, passing blazing fires and screaming Lunarians in the process.

_Right when I found something to do… _

A month ago, it was decided that using the information FuSoYa and Golbez had collected during their stay on the Blue Planet that the Lunarians would live among the humans at last, but still they moved the Red Moon farther away in fear that the Crystal Wars would happen all over again. Their problem had been that they had no way to take all the Lunarians to the Blue Planet. Therefore, Golbez and a few others decided to work on the Lunar Whale II, a bigger copy of KluYa's Lunar Whale. Now Golbez had no choice but to take the prototype to the Blue Planet to ask for help.

He slammed open the door to the holding room of the Lunar Whale II. In front of him stood the surreal airship he had been working on for a month. It looked exactly like the original Lunar Whale had done, only bigger, since it was made to fit about a thousand people per flight. The dirigible gleamed in all its splendor.

Golbez shot up the Whale's stairs into the control room and made his way towards the Control Crystal in the middle of the metallic room. The huge crystal shone all the colors of the rainbow, and many more. The crystal radiated with an unknown, but very strong power. It did worry Golbez a bit that the crystal was so powerful, but he was sure the crystal was made in the same as the original. It had taken an entire week of searching to find the material for the crystal. Colstal was a rare type of magical material found only in the deepest parts of the Lunar Core. The monsters there were very powerful and ruthless, but somehow, after much toiling, Golbez was able to retrieve it.  
_  
If this doesn't work…well, it has to work! _

He put his hand on the crystal, and started mumbling an incantation in Lunarian. The Control Crystal's light grew brighter, and the Lunar Whale II started rising.

The Lunar Whale II had been stored in the Crystal Palace, and no one had bothered to carve out a passageway for the airship. No one had intended to use it until it had been inspected for any possible problems. When the Lunar Whale II hit the solid crystal of the wall, it made a huge grating noise. Golbez winced uncomfortably when he heard the ear piercing sound. He mumbled more Lunarian and the Lunar Whale II again started rising slowly. The grating noise grew louder, and then the dirigible stopped. A huge bang like metal hitting metal could be heard. Golbez rushed to the window to see what could have caused such a sound.

"Oh no…" was all he could mutter.

One of those cursed dragon winged people was banging away at the airship, anger obvious in his wild swings. The man had swiped off a piece of the hull, and he was getting closer the control room as Golbez watched. Golbez mumbled in Lunarian again, but the Lunar Whale II didn't move.

Golbez heard a huge screeching noise from the floor a yard away from him. It was the dragon-winged man trying to claw his way in. It was time for drastic measures. He stood near the spot where the man could be heard trying to enter, and pointed his sword at it. The sword glowed faintly, and the banging stopped. A moment later, Golbez heard an inevitable thud. He looked out the window and saw the dragon winged man sprawled on the ground, unconscious. This was one of the many powers he had acquired from his training under Zemus and the experiments done on him. It was not a favorite ability of his, however, because it stood as a constant reminder of his dark past. Even without his memory of his time under Zemus, he knew that his powers were unnatural, not meant to be used. Golbez sighed and turned back to the crystal.

The airship slowly started rising again, and soon it was past the layers of crystal and on the surface of the Red Moon. For miles, all that could be seen was a desert of rock. Golbez muttered yet another Lunarian incantation to the crystal, and the Lunar Whale II launched itself on its journey to the Blue Planet.

_How will I find Baron? _

He glanced at his sword, which had long ago, actually been KluYa's sword. It had a beautiful hilt carved with symbols in Lunarian. On the pommel, a misty jewel shone. Golbez gazed into the jewel's depths sadly and sighed in remembrance.

_If father was here, he would know what to do_…

The Lunarians told stories of KluYa, as though he was a legend, and how he'd chosen to leave for the Blue Planet after a huge argument with FuSoYa.

"We never really understood each other, even though we were brothers," FuSoYa had said.

KluYa had stormed off and somehow found a way to the Blue Planet with the Lunar Whale. Once there, he had spent most of his time traveling, and mapped out the planet. He had soon settled near Mysidia and fell in love with a Court Sage.

_One of those maps would surely help me right now… _

Golbez gently touched the jewel on the pommel of the sword, deep in thought. He pulled back his hand as the jewel started glowing.

"What in the name of Ramuh!" Golbez shouted, surprised. He dropped the sword and backed up. The light rose from the jewel and hovered a few feet from the sword in mid-air. It opened into a three dimensional hologram.

_The Blue Planet! _

The hologram was indeed a map of the Blue Planet. It was very detailed with cities, and forests, even the smallest islands were mapped clearly. He couldn't help but smile.

_My father had a lot of time… _

Golbez picked up the sword and inspected the hologram for Baron. He found it a few miles from a large mountain range.

The Lunar Whale II was getting closer to the Blue Planet, and according to the map, it looked as if Golbez would be landing near Agart. Golbez carefully piloted the dirigible as it neared the ground, growling as he nearly landed on a tree.

It was almost night on the planet, but Golbez didn't care. Lunarians have eyes adapted to darkness from living in the dark of the Red Moon. Still, the darkness didn't help Golbez's dilemma at all, as he tried to determine which way to go. No one had bothered to install a compass and he hadn't bothered to take his own, so, as far as directions went, he was on his own.

After approximately five minutes of figuring out north and south, Golbez set trail for Baron, the city unbeknownst to him, where hell was soon to break loose.

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I don't own FFIV and all of it's characters, just my own.

Thanks and a million hugs to my beta-reader, Sorceress Ash!


	2. Chapter 1: Blood Red Eyes

Finally! Sorry about the delay people, I had this on my computer for weeks, just things happen... So on with the story!

Disclaimer: Final Fantasy 4 is property of Square Enix. My figments are of my creation, and therefore belong to me. If I owned FFIV, this would be a video game called FFIV-2, OK?

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****Chapter 1-Blood Red Eyes **

The screams of Mysidians could be heard all around. Court Sages were fighting to their death to protect the town, but to no avail. Women and children were slaughtered despite all efforts made to protect them. Through it all, Emily ran, simply ran, with no specific thought made towards her destination. There was only one thing on her mind…

_Where is the High Elder? _

The flames and the smoke were beginning to get to her, and she was soon coughing. Even as her pace slowed, she did not stop running. She did not stop searching. Emily pushed herself through the smoke and closer to Devil's Road. It was the only place she hadn't yet looked, and after that, she intended to head to Baron.

By now, she was slugging. It was only a few more paces to Devil's Road. Emily tore off a strip of her skirt and put it to her mouth in a desperate attempt to filter the polluted air. She slowly stopped coughing and quickened her pace again.

Emily took a sharp turn as soon as she found the town square, and ran through the streets towards the Devil's Road, panicking deeply. She was almost at the door leading into Devil's Road when…

"Do you humans really think you can take us on?" said a serpentine voice. Emily turned on her heel to consider the speaker. She gasped, for this was no ordinary person. It was a man, almost seven feet tall in height. However, his height was not what startled Emily, for growing from his back, were a pair of, huge, black, dragon wings. And his eyes were a soulless blood red with no pupils, as if he was not human., perhaps a creature, but definitely not a human.

Emily backed up slowly in pure shock, hoping in her futility that this strange man would go away and leave her unscathed. She quickly pulled out her staff, Esflur, and started whispering the incantations for a Firaga spell. Emily held her hand up. The staff's glossy orb burned red as fire, and a huge Firaga spell came from her outstretched hand. It floated a few inches from her hand, revolving threateningly.

The man looked purely entertained. "Try me," he simply said.

"Oh, I will!" Emily shouted in reply. She shot the fire-based spell right at him, aiming for his sword hand. The man unsheathed his sword and held it up to guard himself from the incoming spell.

_This guy is crazy; Firaga powered by Esflur can melt even mythril. _

Emily's flames hit the man's sword head on. However, instead of melting the sword as Emily had expected, it dissolved and faded into the sword, as if the sword was absorbing the spell's power. After the whole spell had been sucked away, the sword began radiating an intense red.

Emily gasped. She had thought it impossible, yet she had seen it with her own eyes.

"You're one of the six Mystics of prophecy, aren't you?" he said, "You are very powerful."

Emily gave a puzzled look. "I…I… don't know what you're talking about…" she stammered.

"Of course you don't, and nor do your two brothers," the man said, getting ready to attack.

"My what?" Emily gasped, very surprised at where the talk was going, "I don't have any brothers!"

The man set up in a run towards Emily, his sword posed to slice. "Why should you care if you did? You'll be dead soon!"

Emily put her staff up, ready to parry. She glared daggers at the man in front of her, ready to face death head on.

_I'm not ready to die yet, especially from this guy!_

"Emily, no!" shouted someone, a very familiar someone.

_The High Elder! _

The High Elder made his way quickly towards the battle. The menacing winged man was only a few yards away from Emily, ready to slice and dice her. The High Elder dodged right in front of Emily, and the attack. The winged man sliced him on the chest, rather than Emily, and the High Elder fell to the ground, breathing heavily. Blood gushed out of his chest at a surprisingly fast rate.

"As if that's going to do the girl any good," the man spat, getting ready to attack again.

"Emily…head to Baron…the winged man speaks the truth of your brothers…" the High Elder said weakly.

"No, I'm not leaving your side," Emily said stubbornly, at the moment uncaring as to whether she had siblings.

_Twenty years under his care, learning advanced magic. He was my only friend, the only person I knew of in this world. My life means nothing compared to his…I won't go!_

"Please…go…it's the way it has to be…" the High Elder said.

"It won't help," the winged man interrupted, "You won't get out of Mysidia alive."

"GO!" the High Elder shouted.

Emily got up slowly, looked back at the winged man, and started running towards Devil's Road.

The man quickly dodged in front of the entrance, his ability to fly an obvious speed advantage. "You aren't going anywhere," he said. He pointed the sword at Emily and it glowed red with Emily's Firaga spell. Its surface raged with flames, and the man ran again at Emily, this time with a blazing sword.

Out of nowhere, a Blizzaga spell hit him square in the shoulder. He flinched in pain and grabbed his shoulder.

"Come on, go!" a voice shouted from the direction of the spell. There stood a man in his early twenties. He held an Elios Staff, a staff only Court Sages were allowed to use.

Emily, too tired to argue, finally running towards Devil's Road. With only a quick glance behind her, she slammed open the door and ran to the portal that was the Devil's Road. Before she dematerialized, she saw the man who saved her run in, clutching a cloth to a gaping wound on his shoulder.

Emily felt guiltier than she had felt in all of her twenty years. She clutched the locket holding her father's picture to her heart. She felt all of her mental and physical exhaustion rushing into her, making her feel wobbly.

_Why me?

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Hope you like, and hopefully, these updates will come faster! 

And thankies to my beta-reader, Sorceress Ash!


	3. Chapter 2: Survivors

I hope I haven't lost readers! Yes, I know these updates take long, and I hope you stay with me here. We're moving deeper into the story now, so enjoy!

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**Chapter 2 - Survivors**

(Beta-Read by Sorceress Ash)

Cecil fell back in his chair and sighed. He knew that his newly appointed task of being king would be hard, but this constant flow of paperwork would drive him crazy. It seemed to Cecil that at the moment you think you've found peace, something happens. Cecil got up and went to the window, looking across the vast forests at mountain ranges.

_Traveling was harsh, but it was so much better than this, at least I didn't have to sit on a desk for almost all day and sign these things…and what about Golbez? Why can't I stop thinking about him anyway? _

"Cecil, you've been working too hard," a silky voice said from behind him. Cecil turned around to see Rosa, watching him, worriedly. Rosa walked up to him and gazed into his eyes. Her own eyes were innocent, yet wise, the same eyes Cecil had gotten lost in when she had first walked up to him in that way all those years ago. Rosa took his hand in hers and smiled. "You aren't alone; you don't have to exhaust yourself."

"I know…it's just-" he started.

"Golbez?" asked Rosa.

Cecil sighed. "It's hard to accept he's my brother after all he did, even after Zemus controlled him…I just can't look at him like a brother…he was going to kill me…my own brother…"

"Sometimes we have to give people second chances…just as I did for you."

He looked down from her gaze. The day Rosa almost broke his heart (though he knew he almost broke hers first) seemed like yesterday.

_Cecil walked down the stairs of the castle. Rosa stood near the gates, looking at him hopefully. _

"So, what have you been promoted to?" Rosa asked cheerfully, until she saw him look away from her.

"I've become a…Dark Knight…" Cecil stammered, almost as if he feared it.

Rosa gasped, surprised. "And you accepted?"

"Yes."

"You wouldn't do that. The Cecil I know wouldn't do that! The powers of the Dark Knight are derived from causing pain both to themselves and others. They become nothing but heartless murderers, controlled by the dark powers they thought they understood. I know you aren't evil!" Rosa cried, sobbing as she turned away.

Cecil tried to grab and comfort her but she slapped him from her and ran away. He rubbed his shoulder and looked forlornly at Rosa's quickly disappearing figure.

"I need to support myself…if only she would understand…"

"I accepted what you did in the end, because you had to do it."

Cecil looked back at Rosa. "I guess…but how am I supposed to give my brother a second chance if I'm never to see him again?"

"You'll always have a piece of him in your heart."

Cecil couldn't help but to smile.

Rosa blushed red. "What's so funny?"

Cecil let out a small laugh. "Where do you get all of this?"

"White Wizards are healers, primarily, but we also have a lot of insight. I know these things. I know what will make you happy."

Rosa pulled her husband into a passionate kiss, which lasted a few minutes at the most.

"Am I interrupting something?" a sly voice asked from the stairwell.

The lovebirds quickly released themselves from each other and blushed before turning to see their interrupter.

"Captain Cress, I hope this is important," Cecil muttered, forgetting for a moment in his embarrassment how he usually addressed her.

The twenty year old B.R.A.F. (Baronian Royal Air Force) commander, Arden, smirked, a very rare thing. Arden was usually known for her stiff and formal behavior, rarely laughing or smiling.

"It is indeed very important Your Majesty, Mysidia is in flames."

Cecil widened his eyes in shock at the sudden dark information. "Are the Mysidians OK!"

"I sent an airship to survey the damage earlier," Arden explained, "They reported many casualties, and a handful of survivors, just three or four."

Cecil quickly darted up the stairs towards his room

"Where are you going, Cecil?" Rosa called after him.

"For my armor and my sword," replied the Paladin King, "I must see Mysidia for myself. Rosa, take care of the kingdom while I'm gone…"

"Hold on Your Majesty, there is a group of people from Mysidia who want to see you. Two of the survivors I mentioned earlier" Arden said.

"Bring them into the conference room." Cecil replied, changing direction, "Rosa, may you come?"

Rosa simply nodded and followed Arden and Cecil to the stairway.

A few moments later, four people surrounded the conference table- Cecil, Rosa and the two Mysidians. One of the strangers was dressed as Cecil new a Court Sage of Mysidia to be. He had a bandaged shoulder from a wound he said to have received in Mysidia. The other one stood out more. She had snow white hair and emerald green eyes, the traits of a Lunarian. She was clad in the robes of a Court Sage trainee.

_I didn't know that there were Lunarians on Earth other than Golbez and myself, or maybe… just maybe… this girl's appearance is a coincidence… _

But it was all too suspicious to be deemed one.

"Both of you came from Mysidia, correct?" Cecil asked, worry lines clearly visible on his forehead.

"Yes," the man stated, "My name is Kevin, and I'm a Court Sage in the service of the High Sage.

"And I'm Emily, a Court Sage trainee," the girl said shyly, tapping her fingers on the table.

"What happened in Mysidia?" Rosa asked, "What caused the fire?"

"These 'things' attacked us," Kevin uttered, his eyes getting dark, "They had dragon wings and blood red eyes- seemingly with no soul behind them. They went on burning the town, and as much as we resisted, they killed many of us."

"I met...one...head on," Emily stammered, green eyes brimming with tears, "And…I saw him kill…the High Elder."

Rosa moved closer to the girl and reassured her that things would turn out for the best, as Emily burst into tears.

"I swear upon Baron's name that I will help Mysidia and find who did this," Cecil stated, "But first, other than yourselves, do you know of any survivors?"

"The children- Palom and Porom survived," Kevin replied, "I left them searching in the debris for survivors."

Rosa and Cecil both sighed in relief. After hearing of the attack on Mysidia, they both had worried about the mage twins who'd helped Cecil during the Crystal Wars, even though they knew Palom and Porom were capable of taking care of themselves.

Cecil stood. "I've heard enough, I'm going to see what happened in Mysidia with my own eyes.Thank you Emily and Kevin." He walked to the stairs of his chambers, only to be interrupted again, by Arden.

"Your Majesty, I'm sorry to intrude, but a man claiming he's Lunarian has come to visit the castle, and he's requesting an audience with you at once." Arden said, walking up the stairwell.

Cecil sighed. It seemed as if he would never get to rest. "Bring him down. Kevin, I suggest you go with Rosa to the infirmary. It looks as if you've had a hard time."

"What should I do?" inquired Emily.

"Stay here. I feel you ought to be here when I talk to the Lunarian visitor."

Those present gave Cecil a puzzled look, and headed off in the directions they were supposed to go.

Cecil sighed, looking up at the darkening sky.

_What is the Higher Divine up to?_

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There's Chapter 2 for you! Please press the nice button on the bottom left hand corner of this page and review! 


	4. Chapter 3: Beyond Their Memory

This update came faster than expected...no one is complaining!

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**Chapter 3: Beyond Their Memory**

(Beta-Read by Sorceress Ash)

Once again, Cecil found himself at the conference table, with Emily and the newest visitor, a Lunarian by the name of Glen. Emily nervously drummed her fingers on the tabletop, a habit of hers that she wanted to quit. She sighed in exasperation and turned her attention to the talk in front of her.

"What can be so important that the Lunarians would need to send someone to Earth?" asked Cecil, his face concentrated with worry.

_Every person on this planet has something to worry about… _

"Dragon humanoids attacked Lunaria and left the place in ruins," Glen said.

"Lunaria?" asked Cecil, a puzzled look on his face.

"We built a town on the Red Moon, so we could live there until we came to the Blue Planet." Glen said, "We made it hard to find, but I guess that wasn't good enough."

"It seems as if whatever war was waged upon Lunaria, was also waged upon Mysidia…" Cecil said, a hint of skepticism accenting the anxiousness in his voice .

"Do you think this is all connected?" asked Emily, finally joining the talk.

"Such events cannot be laid to rest as coincidences…" Cecil said. They all nodded in agreement.

"But why?" Glen asked, "None of us have seen these people before."

_Yet they know more about us then we do…like during the attack on Mysidia…_

"It doesn't make sense…" Cecil murmured.

They sighed in unison. Emily considered the two people in front of her. She found it uncanny that she had the same eye color and hair color as the two men with her. Cecil, in particular bore a resemblance to her late father that was even stranger.

_What is the world coming to? Men with dragon wings? So many people with such uncanny resemblances to others? _

"Emily," asked Cecil. Emily flinched at her name, her train of though interrupted, and turned her attention back to the conversation. "There is something I'd like to know…"

"Um…what is it?" Emily stammered, her hand flying to her crystal embedded locket and clutching it to her chest. The locket was the only thing that kept her tight in her past, other than her memories.

"Are you Lunarian?"

Emily's eyes grew wide in shock, although she had no idea as to the meaning of the word. "I don't know what you mean…" she said meekly.

"Lunarian, meaning from the moon," Glen said. Emily felt interrogated by the two men. Two men, one not much older than her, bombarding her with questions of her heritage and unfamiliar words. She had been brought up to believe that she was born a Mysidian.

"I only know that I was born in Mysidia, and how my father looked," Emily said, clutching the locket even closer to her chest.

"Do you, perchance have a picture of him?" asked Cecil, anticipation glowing in his eyes.  
After much thought, Emily reluctantly removed her locket and handed it to the king. "There's a picture of my father inside…" she said.

Cecil fumbled with the locket a bit until he got it open. He examined the picture inside closely, and his eyes widened with shock and recognition. Glen, taking a look at the picture over Cecil's shoulder, choked, flabbergasted.

_Guess they figured the resemblance… _

The two men looked up from the locket. "Do you happen to know the name of your father?" Cecil asked, in a way which suggested that the answer would seal their fate.

"No, but the High Elder told me my father wrote his name on the back of the locket. I never bothered to look, though, I didn't want to really know, it would scare me…"

Cecil carefully removed the picture from its golden framing. He slowly flipped over the small portrait, both excited and afraid of what was on the back.

_If boys behave like this, all of the time, I'm staying single. _

Cecil gasped. "His name was…"

"KluYa…" Glen finished.

Emily looked impatiently at the two. "And your point is?" She muttered, drumming her fingers again. After a few seconds, she cursed herself for doing so.

"My father's name was KluYa," Cecil whispered, softly.

Emily, hearing this, very nearly fell from her chair. Just yesterday, she had aspiring dreams of being a fully-fledged Court Sage. She could have finally seen the world, and maybe even traveled.

_Looks like it's been granted, because from recent events…it looks like I'm not going to be sitting in the Mysidian Mage School anymore…_

"The winged man I faced said something about me having brothers…"

"And that would be Golbez and I…"

This puzzled Emily. "Who's Golbez?"

Cecil looked shocked, though he tried to keep it from showing. "The one who took control over the Red Wings when the Water Fiend banished me?"

"I've never heard of him," Emily said, "The High Elder never let me know what happened in the outside world. He never told me why..."

Cecil sighed, "There's the long version, and then there's the short. Which one would you like to hear?"

"The short version would be most adequate."

"A Lunarian named Zemus wanted the eight crystals of the Blue Planet so he could get out of the Red Moon, and wreak havoc on the Blue Planet. He had one of his fiends kill our King and take on his form. He sent the Red Wings- an airship unit of Baron- and I to Mysidia to retrieve the Water Crystal. We took it, and killed many innocents in the process. They eventually banished me for choosing to doubt the fiend. My friends and I embarked on… a whole journey, if you will, as we tried to prevent Zemus from laying his hands on the crystals. Zemus had taken control of Golbez and used him as a pawn to collect the crystals. At one point, we met a man called FuSoYa, who told us that he was my uncle, and that Golbez was my brother. He removed Zemus' control over Golbez, too. We managed to defeat Zemus, and… we returned to our lives."

_Talk about shocking developments… _

"The High Elder has really kept a lot from me…"

"I'm sure he had his reasons," Cecil said.

Emily found it hard to think of any plausible reasons for the High Elder to keep all of these events from her. She yawned, stretching her hands up like a cat would. She noticed Glen sweating a river, but didn't really care much for that.

We're all tired," Cecil said, suppressing a yawn. He got up and made his way to the door. "I'll go get a room for you two at the inn."

"You would do that?" asked Emily, hopefully.

"Would you rather sleep outside on the cold ground?" Cecil said with a rare and out of character smile, "You aren't alone." He quickly paced away.

_I truly am not…_

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Another chapter in the bag, please review!


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